Five people have passed on and tens of thousands have been left without power in Ukraine after intense Russian missile and drone attacks overnight, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
Four members of one family, including a 15-year-old girl, were killed by a strike in the village of Lapaivka as attacks mostly targeted the western region of Lviv.
Ukraine’s neighbour Poland scrambled fighter jets in order to ensure the safety of Polish airspace, the Polish military confirmed. Allied Nato aircraft were also deployed.
Russia’s defence ministry said it had successfully carried out a “massive” strike on Ukrainian military and infrastructure targets.
One person also died in Zaporizhzhia. Zelensky said Russia fired more than 50 missiles and around 500 attack drones. Ukraine’s air force put the combined figure at 549.
Lviv endured several hours of strikes, leading to the suspension of public transport services and the cutting of electrical supplies.
Maksym Kozytskyi, Lviv’s regional head, said it was the largest attack on the region since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. He said around 163 drones and missiles were identified in the area.
Another family member was injured, as were two neighbours, in the strike that killed their relatives in Lapaivka.
The Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, Odesa, and Kirovohrad regions were also targeted as well as Lviv and Zaporizhzhia, according to Zelensky.
He added: “We need more protection and faster implementation of all defense agreements, especially on air defense, to deprive this aerial terror of any meaning.
“A unilateral ceasefire in the skies is possible – and it is precisely that which could open the way to real diplomacy.”
